MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Simeon Woods Richardson pitched six shutout innings of one-hit ball and the Minnesota Twins scored twice in the seventh to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-1 on Monday night in the opener of their four-game series.
Minnesota rebounded quickly after its 12-game winning streak was snapped Sunday with a 9-2 loss to Boston.
Woods Richardson struck out a career-high eight and walked just one in his fifth major league start. He whiffed five of his first six batters and had seven strikeouts through three innings, outpitching Mariners All-Star Luis Castillo. The only hit Woods Richardson permitted was a leadoff single by Mitch Garver in the third.
“He’s been pitching really well. Today, he was phenomenal,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s just a pretty incredible start, and he’s matching up against one of the best pitchers in the game. That can affect people sometimes, when you’re watching the other guy on the other side of the field who does it all a lot and is putting up zeros, too. It didn’t put him off one bit.”
Seattle loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh but pushed across only one run against reliever Griffin Jax (3-2). Garver’s sacrifice fly plated Jorge Polanco to tie it 1-all before Luke Raley struck out to end the inning.
Castillo (3-5) allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings and struck out seven. The right-hander, who won his previous three starts, didn’t give up a hit until the fifth.
“He has a great name in this league. He’s a competitor, throws strikes, gives his team the best chance to win,” Woods Richardson said. “So, it’s always fun to go toe-to-toe with somebody like that.”
Minnesota’s offense put together two runs in the seventh to reclaim the lead for good. Carlos Correa’s second double of the game helped set up the go-ahead run, as he eventually came around to score on Christian Vázquez’s sacrifice fly off Castillo for a 2-1 lead. Manuel Margot added an RBI single to make it 3-1.
“He’s a top-of-the-rotation starter and he had all his pitches working today,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said of Castillo. “They were just able to put a rally together against him late in the ballgame and it was one of those games where it was going to come down to that, who gets a big hit, who can put it together, and Correa had two big hits tonight, no question about that.”
Twins closer Jhoan Duran pitched the eighth, striking out Julio Rodríguez on three pitches to end the inning. Caleb Thielbar tossed a scoreless ninth for his third save.
POLANCO RETURNS
After spending 10 years with the Twins, Polanco made his first trip to Target Field as a visitor.
Polanco debuted with the Twins in 2014 and was traded to Seattle after the 2024 season. He was an All-Star in 2019 and helped Minnesota end its playoff drought last season.
“A lot of emotions,” Polanco said pregame. “I spent a lot of time here. It’s definitely great coming back here, so I feel pretty good.”
The Twins played Polanco’s old walk-up music as he received a standing ovation before his first at-bat.